A 2,000-year-old road—believed to have carried Yidden on their way to the Beis Hamikdash as they were being oleh regel—has been unveiled in Ir Dovid, just outside the walls of the Old City. Stretching some 2,000 feet from Maayan Hagichon (Pool of Shiloach) to the footsteps of Har HaBayis, the road would have been traversed by Klal Yisroel during the Shalosh Regalim: Pesach, Shavuos, and Sukkos. According to archaeologists, this was the very road used by our ancestors to ascend to the Makom HaMikdash b’tahara after immersing in the mikveh. “This is the road our ancestors—yours and mine—would have walked 2,000 years ago to go up to the Beis Hamikdash,” said Ze’ev Orenstein, Director of International Affairs at the Ir Dovid Foundation, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post. The discovery came to light nearly by accident, when a sewage pipe burst in the area over a decade ago. What began as emergency infrastructure work quickly turned into a historic excavation. Years of archaeological digging and legal wrangling culminated in a landmark ruling from Israel’s High Court, declaring the site one of “national and international importance.” Archaeologists uncovered not only the road itself—paved with enormous stone slabs and measuring up to 100 feet wide in places—but also a bustling commercial district that lined its route. Evidence of this includes ancient market stalls, weights, coins, and pottery shards. “It’s like the Machane Yehuda of the Second Beis Hamikdash era,” Orenstein quipped. Beneath the road’s drainage channel was discovered broken oil lamps, pots, and bronze coins dating back to the Churban. Experts believe these belonged to Jewish fighters who hid in the underground passageways during the Roman siege of Yerushalayim during the Great Revolt of the 1st century CE. “Ir Dovid predates even the Old City,” Orenstein noted. “This isn’t just history—it’s Tanach coming alive. These aren’t just stories we tell at the Seder or in shul. These are real places, real paths, real footsteps etched into the bedrock of our nation’s memory.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)